


ScienceParty Week

by DeckofDragons



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Background Sniper/Scout, Double Date, Fluff, Insomnia, M/M, Magic, Ship Week, cross faction, futuristic AU, modern day AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-06 06:11:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16826755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: A series of unrelated one shots about Medic and Engie being in love.Prompts are:Day One: Double DateDay Two: Modern DayDay Three: Cross FactionDay Four: InsomniaDay Five: Experiment TimeDay Six: AU HourDay Seven: We're Engaged - in Combat





	1. Double Date

**Author's Note:**

> Yay! Another ship week! These are fun.

The peaceful silence of Engie’s workshop was shattered by the sound the door made as it thrown open with far more force than was necessary, especially since it hadn’t been locked. Engie jumped, snapping around, ready to wack whoever it was upside head with his wrench. It was just Scout though.

“You ever heard of knocking boy?” Engie said, frowning his full disapproval at him.

Scout didn’t seem to care or even notice though. “Yeah but I don’t got time for that, we have places to be.”

“What do you mean ‘we’?”

“I _mean_ , it’s the weekend, we got time off, you’re taking a break. So come on, I don’t got all day.”

“But…”

“No ‘buts’, you’re taking a break. Your work will still be here when you get back.”

He was persistent, getting him to leave would take a lot of effort. And… Engie could maybe use a break. It might be just the thing he needed to figure out a solution for the issue he was currently working on. He’d been messing with it for hours, pretty since he’d woke up this morning, and had become increasingly frustrated with it. So…

“Fine,” he gave with a sigh, putting his wrench back on the work bench. “But only so you’ll leave me alone ‘bout it.”

“Good, let’s go.” Scout gestured for Engie to follow and ran off down the corridor.

Engie glanced over his workshop to make sure everything was in place before following, closing and locking the door behind him. Such measures weren’t necessary, he trusted his team, but he still preferred it when they didn’t touch his things, which some of them did, though the main offender was Scout and he was with Engie, but it was a habit and made him feel better about leaving anyway.

He followed Scout outside and to the team’s car which was parked outside, meaning they were headed to town. Good, there were a few things Engie needed to pick from the store anyway so no matter what this trip wouldn’t be a complete waste of time.

“What are we waiting for?” he asked when Scout didn’t hop in immediately, instead leaning up against the side of the car.

“Sniper, he should be here soon.”

“You’re dragging me along on an outing with your boyfriend?”

“Sort of yeah, but it’s a double date so it’s cool.”

“’Double date’? What do you…” Engie cut off as he caught sight of Sniper leaving the base. Medic was accompanying him. “Oh.”

“Yes ‘oh’,” Scout said with a laugh. “You got to tell him you feel eventually.”

“Who says I feel anything for him? We’re friends, we work together sometimes, that’s it. Ain’t nothing all that special about that.”

“Yeah sure, whatever you say Hardhat. You’re sitting in the back with him by the way, Snipes is driving and I’m taking shotgun.”

Engie almost bailed but… he was a full-grown man, not some dumb shy teenager about to face his high school crush. He hung out with Medic all the time, this was no different, other than Scout and Sniper being along too and _they_ thought of it as a double date. That was fine though, they could think whatever they wanted to, didn’t make it true. “Fine with me.”

“You’ve been forced on this outing too huh?” Medic said to Engie as he and Sniper reached the car.

“Yep, got stuff I need to pick up at the store in town though so it’s fine.”

“Uh, we’re not heading to town” Scout said.

“Then where are we going?” Medic asked.

“You’ll see,” Sniper said as he unlocked the driver side door and hopped in. “Oh and uh… it’s a double date, just so you know. It was Scout’s idea.”

“’Double…” Medic cut off with a scowl as Sniper pulled the door closed in his face. Scout had gone around to the other side to take the passenger seat, leaving Engie and Medic to get in the back or bail now like cowards. The latter wasn’t a viable option.

“A hike and a picnic,” Scout said in answer to the unspoken question about what they were doing out in the middle of nowhere. “Perfect double date stuff, right? And I figured you guys could use the fresh air after spending so much time in doors like a couple of crazy people.”

There wasn’t much point arguing with him, he wouldn’t listen and they were already out here. It did look like a nice place to go for a hike though, it was a hillier area but not too steep or messy. And it was far enough away from everything that the air _was_ fresh, a pleasant place all things considered.

Scout and Spy naturally took the lead since they presumably knew where they were going, Scout carrying the picnic basket. Engie and Medic followed a short distance behind. Scout started rambling about something to no one’s surprise, boy didn’t seem to know how to shut up. Medic and Engie eventually ended up falling further back so they could chat.

“Scout seems to think we got feelings for each other,” Engie said with a forced scoff, trying to act casual.

“Yes, what are your thoughts on that?” Medic replied, giving Engie a look as if he was purposefully trying to make the conversation awkward.

“Uh… I don’t know.” Maybe Engie _did_ like Medic that way. Medic was one of the only people on the team who was smart enough to provide Engie with a truly intellectually engaging conversation, it was natural he’d be drawn to him, right? That didn’t mean Medic returned those feelings, he might not even roll that way, there was no way to know for sure without asking him. Engie could handle it if he didn’t, he was more than pleased with the friendship and working partnership they currently had going, anything more would just be a bonus.

“Where do you think he might’ve gotten that idea?” Yep, Medic knew he was making this awkward and was enjoying it. Well, two could play at that game.

“Where do _you_ think he got that idea from?”

“I don’t know, where does Scout get _any_ of his ideas from? But he’s not quite as stupid as he acts, some of his ideas aren’t wrong.”

Engie almost tripped on his own feet in surprise before steadying himself. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Depends on what you think I’m saying.” Medic winked, his smile looking naturally evil. That was one of the things Engie liked about him, he was a mad scientist who also looked the part. In retrospect it was perhaps an odd thing to be find appealing but Engie had never been ‘normal’ in that regard.

“I’m thinking you might be saying that the boy’s right and we’re on a… date.” Engie’s face grew a little warm upon saying the word. It had been… how long since he’d been on a date? A long time for sure and it had been even longer since he’d been on a date that had gone well. Dating wasn’t his thing.

“Yes, I hadn’t considered it much before but…” Here Medic finally did falter, his expression flicking to nervous and unsure for a second before he got it back under control. “I’m not against the idea of a deeper relationship.”

“Well uh… I’m not against it either.” Engie rubbed the back of his neck with his ungloved hand. He glanced ahead to see that Scout and Sniper were even further ahead of them now, they wouldn’t be bringing an end to this awkward conversation any time soon.

“Good, that’s settled then.”

“Yep.”

“Talk about something else now?”

“Please do.”

“Did I ever tell you how I got my birds?”

“Nope, don’t think so.” Knowing Medic, if there was a story behind it then it had to be a good one.


	2. Modern Day

Medic stood in the doorway of Engie’s workshop. Engie hadn’t noticed him yet despite how long he’d been standing there, so enraptured was he by the device he was putting together on his table. Medic couldn’t tell what it was but it looked like a gun. It wasn’t unusual to see him working on a gun, they were mercenaries after all, but the way he moved and the concentration on his face meant this was purely a passion project.

On one hand Medic’s curiosity urged him to interrupt and ask what it was and why it was so special. But on the other hand, he liked watching Engie work, focused and entirely in his own little world. He could probably stand here for hours and never be noticed. But he didn’t have hours, he’d come in here for a reason, though he could no longer remember what that reason was. But… he could afford a few more minutes.

He pulled out his phone and snapped a couple pictures to look at later. Engie didn’t respond to the click of the camera.

Eventually he turned around to grab a new tool from his tool wall. When he turned back, he froze. “Hey Doc,” he said, sounding almost embarrassed, “how long you been standing there?”

“Not long.” Medic strode further in to get a better look at the device on the table. “What are you working on?”

“A portal gun, I saw it in a video game, thought it looked cool so… I’m trying to recreate it,” Engie said with a shrug. “It’s not a big deal but if I can get it to work it should make getting around the battlefield easier.” That wasn’t why he was working on it though, he was doing it for the sake of science. That’s the thing Medic loved about him the most.

“How does it work?”

“Well…” Engie launched into a passionate explanation about first how the gun worked in game and how then he was attempting to replicate its affects. Medic’s area of scientific expertise lay elsewhere but he understood most of it and he’d been working with Engie long enough to have picked up some knowledge in that area too. But even if he didn’t understand it, Engie’s passion about it, visible in his hand gestures, facial expressions, and audible in his tone as he talked, would’ve made it engaging anyway.

“Want to help me test it when it’s finished,” Engie said once his explanation was finished.

“Of course. I could probably use it for a few experiments myself.” They often helped each other with their experiments. That was what had gotten them hanging out which had led to the relationship they had now. And honestly Medic couldn’t ask for a better partner. Together their scientific knowledge made them unstoppable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short but I figure not much would be different other than Engie having the means to invent high tech stuff. He was making teleporters back in the 60's, he'd be making all sorts of crazy shit in a modern setting.


	3. Cross Faction

Engie woke to the sound of soft snoring. His head pounded with a hangover, forcing him towards full wakefulness far faster than he was ready for. He was warm and comfortable – except for the headache – his head resting on… Medic’s chest and Medic’s arm was draped around him.

With a groan, Engie forced his eyes open to check the clock. It was almost an hour to noon. Dammit, he’d slept in longer than he should have. He didn’t _really_ care though, they didn’t have to go back to work until tomorrow. … Work that required them to be enemies. Which was inconvenient at the best of times and had the potential to cause _many_ problems if they were caught. Now wasn’t the time to worry about that though.

He pushed himself up, careful not to disturb Medic, and slid off the bed. He pulled the blanket back up to Medic’s chin to make sure he stayed warm. Even though the little cabin was heated it was still quite cold, it’s what made getting out of bed so dang hard. But alas, it had to be done.

Engie grabbed a bottle of water to drink out of while he started the coffee pot. Once he had that set, he checked on Medic again just because he could.

He was still fast asleep but he’d shifted position to be hugging a pillow much like how he’d previously had his arms draped around Engie. He looked peaceful, almost like he wasn’t a mad scientist. He was cute. … If Engie hadn’t already fallen for him, he’d have done so now, as it was, he only fell in deeper. If this kept up he’d soon not be able to ever get himself out… it might have actually already reached that point.

Upon hearing the sound of the coffee machine beeping, he slunk back to kitchen. Thankfully Medic hadn’t woken up while he’d been watching him sleep, _that_ would’ve been awkward and difficult to explain.

He made eggs and toast while he sipped his coffee. It revitalized him, not curing his hangover but helping and giving him the energy to ignore it. He was laying both plates of breakfast out on the table when Medic wondered in, looking more than half asleep.

“Morning,” Engie greeted him with a smile and a wave.

Medic groaned and mumbled something in German before beelining for the coffee pot. After pouring a cup he sat down across from Engie. Engie let sit him silence, he wasn’t a morning person so attempting to talk to him before he’d had his coffee would be a fruitless task. But sitting across from each other while enjoying breakfast together had its own appeal.

It wasn’t until breakfast was done and the coffee pot was empty that Engie broke the silence. “Sleep well?”

Medic groaned again, rubbing a hand to his forehead.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ but now you’re hung over,” Engie said as he gathered up the dishes to put in the sink, he’d clean them later. Medic, though better at handling his alcohol was more prone to bad hangovers because of it. Last night they’d had quite a bit, more than the probably should have.

Before Medic could stand, Engie kissed him on the forehead. It wasn’t often that he got an opportunity to do that, he wasn’t going to let it slip past.

Medic smiled at him and even laughed a little. “Don’t we have an experiment to work on today?” That was what got them hanging out initially, a shared interest in science, different kinds of science but they were both mercenaries not for war or fighting but the scientific advancement opportunities it brought. Which is why them being enemies had never been a problem.

Engie shrugged. “We can work on it later.” Normally he’d be all for working but they were both hungover, especially Medic, so… “Let’s enjoy the rest of our time off together, huh?”

Medic squinted at him before sighing. “Fine.”

They went back to the living area of the cabin. It was cold so they ended up cuddling beneath a blanket. The could worry about their experiments and all the worries work brought them later, for now they could just enjoy each other’s company for a little bit longer.


	4. Insomnia

The clock read 3:42. It had long since passed the point where Engie should’ve gone to bed. He’d tried _hours_ ago but had failed so he’d come to his workshop instead to work on his machines some more. He was tired but even if he went to bed now he’d most likely end up lying there, staring at the ceiling or wall until he became frustrated and got out of bed again. He wasn’t going to waste time with that so he kept working. He could use some coffee though.

His chair squeaked loudly as he pushed himself away from his table so he could stand. He was stiff and felt old in that way he always did when he ended staying up this late, he hated it. He exited his workshop, not bothering to turn off the light or lock the door, no one else would be at up this late anyway.

He made his way though the base, doing his best to move quietly out of habit. The kitchen light was already on and sounds came from within. Turns out he wasn’t the only up at stupid o’clock in the morning.

“Howdy,” he said as he stepped into the kitchen.

It was Medic, not surprising, and he was making coffee. “Hallo,” he said with a glance at Engie. “You should be in bed, we have work tomorrow.”

“And you shouldn’t be bed?”

“Hmm… fair point.” Medic shrugged and turned back to his coffee preparations.

Engie approached to leaned lean against the counter and watch. “So you up because you can’t sleep or you working on something?”

“Both, you?”

“Both.”

While they waited for the coffee to brew, they sat at the table. “So, what are you working on?” Engie asked both out of genuine curiosity and to make conversation.

“Well, I’m working on a new medigun, it’ll…”

“Please tell me you guys are just up early for once and that you _didn’t_ stay up all night again.”

Engie cut off his explanation about the improvements he was making to his sentry gun to look at Spy who’d just walked into the kitchen and was giving them a disapproving look. “Well partner, if it makes you feel any better, we didn’t _intend_ to stay up all night.” They had _intended_ to go back to work though but had ended up chatting the rest of the night away while drinking coffee instead.

“You two are going to get yourselves killed doing this one day and that’s going to get the rest of the team killed too. I don’t fancy losing a battle and dying because you two idiots are sleep deprived, you need to stop.”

“Nein, we’ll be fine.” Medic brushed off his concern – because it _was_ concern even if the old spook didn’t want to admit it – with a wave of his hand. “We have coffee.”

Spy sighed and rolled his eyes before turning away to start on breakfast. It was his turn to make breakfast which was great, he was probably the team’s best cook. Engie was excited to see what fancy dish Spy would make this time. In the meantime though, he had a conversation to get back to.


	5. Experiment Time

“You sure this a good idea?” Engie asked, raising an eyebrow at Medic.

“Probably not,” Medic said with a shrug. “Any number of horrible things could happen, that’s never stopped us before though, has it?”

“Nope and it ain’t going to stop us this time neither.” Had Engie been this reckless before he’d met Medic? … Nope, Medic was a bad influence on him. Maybe he should care about that more than he did but he was already in too deep. “If we die though, it’s been fun.”

Medic gave him a quick kiss before turning back to the matter at hand. “You go first.” He handed the thick leather-bound book to Engie.

It was heavier than it looked and had arcane runes and symbols engraved on the cover. They’d stolen it from a wizard, Merasmus to be exact, Soldier’s ex-roommate. It was a spell book, what the spells did was anyone’s guess, the book didn’t say. But that was what they were here to find out. Where there safer ways to find out? Yes, certainly but reckless experimentation was faster and more fun.

Engie opened it to a random page. Its pages smelled of old magic, or more accurately what Engie thought old magic must smell like since he’d never smelled it before and it certainly didn’t smell like a normal old book. He read the words on the page a couple times in his head to make sure he got it. He then lifted his hand, waving it in the way the picture indicated as he read them aloud.

Nothing happened. He tried again, enunciating more this time, and… a fireball shot out of his hand. It crashed into the wall of his workshop, leaving a large burn mark. Luckily, they’d cleared the space beforehand and thus there was nothing flammable nearby otherwise they might’ve caused a big problem.

“Well, at least we know it works,” Engie said. “We should maybe take this outside though, just in case there are worse ones than that.” In hindsight they’d should’ve started this outside. If one of the spells formed a pool of acid or summoned a demon, indoors would be the _last_ place they’d want such things.

“Good idea, I’ll grab a fire extinguisher too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but it captures the feel I was going for.


	6. AU Hour

The ship was named BLU, an anagram of the company who owned it. It was emblazoned on the side as part of the company’s logo along with multiple pieces of equipment within. But aside from the less than appealing name Engie was pleased. It wasn’t everyday one got to work aboard such a high-tech space ship. It’s why he’d signed up when they’d put out an announcement looking for people to hire on as mercenaries.

Having inspected the ship and the area he’d be working in until his contract expired and found it to his liking it was now team to meet the rest of the crew. There were only three others so far, a sniper, an explosives expert, and a doctor, more would be hired on soon no doubt.

Not knowing where to find the others yet it made sense to meet the doctor first, there were signs pointing the way to the med-bay. If the doctor wasn’t in there than Engie could just go to the cafeteria and wait for people to come to him, that’d be easier to do anyway.

The med-bay doors were unlocked according to the green light in the touchpad that would open the door. Engie knocked anyway as was polite.

“Come in,” came a distant voice through the door.

Engie put his hand over the touchpad. It beeped as it scanned him and the doors opened with a soft mechanical swish – he’d have them dead silent in no time once he started working on them. He stepped in and they closed automatically behind him.

He was in a waiting room. One of the doors leading off from it was wide open though. He went down it.

“You must be the new guy,” a voice with a thick German accent said as he entered a well light surgical room. “I’ll get to your physical when I’m done here.” The owner of the voice was hunched over the surgery table and whatever lay on top of it.

Engie approached. The doctor was dissecting an alien. _How_ he’d gotten a corpse of one was a mystery. It was deep blue and looked a bit like a giant octopus if one squinted at it the right way.

“Are you a man of science?” the doctor said, not looking up from his task.

“Why, yes I am. I’m…”

“Good, help me with this.”

The tone had Engie obeying before he could even think to say ‘no’. He didn’t mind though, this was fascinating to say the least. Biological stuff wasn’t his area of expertise but with the doctor’s instructions he was able to hold the right parts open and move the things in the right way, getting his hand and glove covered in alien blood in the process. Hopefully it wouldn’t have any adverse side effects.

The doctor explained what he was doing the whole time, speaking _very_ passionately. Engie liked him already.

It took a good three or four hours before the doctor done with the alien for the time being. “Anyway, I’m the team’s doctor, you can call me ‘Medic’,” he said after putting everything away.

“Uh… call me ‘Engie’.” The nicknames weren’t mandatory but Pauling had informed him when she’d hired him that everyone else was using one. He’d liked the thought of using one too and had gone with ‘Engie’ to match his job.

They shook hands despite the alien blood coating them. It was _gross_ but Medic didn’t even seem to notice. As soon as he let go Engie moved to the sink to wash it off. Luckily, it didn’t take much scrubbing. … It left a blue stain though.

“Is this bad?” he asked as he turned back around towards Medic, holding up his hand to show him.

“Don’t worry about it. It just stains your skin blue and gives you weird dreams, you’ll be fine.”

“What kind of weird dreams?”

Medic shrugged before walking over to wash his own hands. They too were stained blue, much deeper though, implying this wasn’t the first time he’d gotten them covered in the blood whatever kind of alien they’d been working on. “It’s different for different people. You’ll be fine though… probably. If it starts to hurt though come to me immediately so I can study it… and fix it, I guess. Anyway,” he straightened, drying his hands with a towel. “It’s time for you physical.” He left the room, gesturing for Engie to follow.

With a sigh, Engie did. If nothing else, Medic was certainly interesting, working with him was bound to not get boring any time soon.


	7. We're Engaged - In Combat

Engie found Medic in his lab. He was feeding his birds and didn’t turn around at the sound of the door opening so Engie stood there, not wanting to interrupt. He was speaking German to them but Engie didn’t need to understand the words to grasp their general meaning; Medic was baby-talking them. It was adorable and brought a smile to Engie’s face.

Engie loved him, had for a long while now. He… wouldn’t mind spending the rest of his life with him. He would like that actually. … Now maybe wasn’t the time to think about such things, they were in a middle of a war, anything could happen, anything could change. But… maybe one day they could think about it properly.

“Howdy partner,” he said before Medic could by chance glance to the side and catch him staring like a lovestruck fool.

“Oh, hello Engie.” Medic turned to face with him with a smile, it looked evil, that was just how his smiles were, a charming trait once one got to know him. “I was just feeding the birds. Is there something you need?”

“Nah, just coming in to say ‘hi’.”

“Well, hi then.”

Engie walked deeper in to sit at Medic’s desk. “What you want to do for date night tomorrow?” Every Friday they had a date night, sometimes it was going out to nice restaurant or to see a movie, other nights it was just dinner at the base followed by them working on a project together, often staying up until the sun rose the next day or later. They’d been doing it for months.

“Hmmm…” Medic thought for several seconds before shrugging. “Whatever’s fine with me, we haven’t been to that lobster place in a while. Or we could experiment more with the teleporters, see if anything else grows tumors and becomes a monster.”

Engie chuckled. “Either’s fine with me too, I guess we’ll decide tomorrow then.”

In the end their need to know about what other food items had the potential to become monstrosities won out over their desire to have a fancy dinner together. They’d been working on this idea for a while, teleporting all sorts of things, so far the only thing they’d found was that different types of bread produced slightly different looking bread monsters.

They worked on it long into the night until Spy walked in. He’d been out doing spy stuff and had presumably just returned. “You idiots need sleep,” he said, the full force of his disapproval in his voice. “I don’t care that’s it the weekend, go to bed _at least_ before the sun’s up.” He then turned and left, firmly closing the door behind him.

“He’s right,” Medic said with a sigh.

“Yeah, probably,” Engie replied. “And we ain’t finding nothing, so… might as well, right?”

“I suppose.”

They packed everything up and got ready for bed. Since they were in Engie’s workshop his room was closer so they decided on that one. They’d been sharing a bed for a couple months now, ever since they’d started falling asleep together on the couch after pulling an all-nighter. They’d both found that they liked waking up in each other’s arms.

So, it was with familiar ease that crawled into bed and cuddled up to each other. Medic was warm and cozy pressed against Engie’s back, Engie couldn’t imagine trying to sleep without him there despite this sleeping arrangement being relatively new. … Again, that desire for this to be permanent.

“You uh… ever think about what you’re going to do when the war ends or our contracts expire?” he asked, speaking low to not disturb the peace of night.

Medic shifted a little. “No, I haven’t thought about it much.”

“Neither have I.” That was still a ways away and they were focused on the here and now. “But uh… whatever we do after, you… want to do it together?”

“Well of course, assuming we both survive that long.”

“Yeah.” Engie had a feeling that they would. “Love you.”

Medic hummed and kissed his cheek. “I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not an official engagement but it might as well be.


End file.
